CHIMNEYS IN THE DESERT: Industrialization in Argentina During the Export Boom Years, 1870 –1930 Fernando Rocchi Stanford University Press chimneys in the desert social science history Edited by Stephen Haber and David W. Brady Anne G. Hanley, Native Capital: Financial Institutions and Economic Development in São Paulo, Brazil, 1850–1920 J. G. Manning and Ian Morris, The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models Daniel Lederman, The Political Economy of Protection William Summerhill, Order Against Progress Samuel Kernel, James Madison: The Theory and Practice of Republican Government Francisco Vidal Luna and Herbert S. Klein, Slavery and the Economy of São Paulo, 1750–1850 Noel Maurer, The Power and the Money David W. Brady and Mathew D. McCubbins, Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress Jeffrey Bortz and Stephen Haber, The Mexican Economy, 1870–1930 Edward Beatty, Institutions and Investment Jeremy Baskes, Indians, Merchants, and Markets C H I M N E Y S I N T H E D E S E RT Industrialization in Argentina During the Export Boom Years, 1870 –1930 fernando rocchi stanford university press Stanford, California 2006 Stanford University Press Stanford, California © 2006 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rocchi, Fernando, date– Chimneys in the desert : industrialization in Argentina during the export boom years, 1870–1930 / Fernando Rocchi p. cm.—(Social science history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8047-5012-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1.Industrialization—Argentina. I. Title. II. Series. HC175.R567 2006 338.0982(cid:2)09(cid:2)034—dc22 2005022698 Original Printing 2006 Last figure below indicates year of this printing: 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 Typeset by G&S Typesetters, Inc. in 10.5/13 Bembo To my parents, Adela María Heredia Vargas and Alberto Rocchi contents List of Figures ix List of Tables x Acknowledgments xiii Abbreviations xvii Introduction: Industrialization in an Agrarian Economy 1 1. The First Factories: The Dawn of Argentine Industry, 1870s–1890s 16 2. The Market as an Object of Desire: The Rise of Domestic Industrial Consumption 49 3. The Victory of Big Business: Industrial Growth in the First Decades of the Twentieth Century 86 4. Only One Argentina: The Creation of a National Market for Manufactured Goods 125 5. Tension and Harmony in the Industrial Family: Entrepreneurs and Workers in Argentina’s Factories 152 6. Money and Factories: The Myths and Realities of Industrial Financing 177 7. The Empire of Pragmatism: Politics and Industry in the Period 1880–1930 204 A Midway Industrialization: Concluding Remarks 237 Appendices 249 Notes 259 Bibliography 343 Index 385 list of figures 1.1. Growth of GDP and Industrial Output: Argentina 1875–1930 18 2.1. Real Wages, Argentina, 1884–1930 51 3.1. Bagley Sales and Costs: Argentine Exports, 1905–1926 97 4.1. Argentina, Provinces and Regions, c. 1910 134 ix